Thoughts On Speaking In Tongues

Thoughts On Speaking In Tongues

(Greatly expanded on 3/10/19)

A subject that has come up a lot lately has been the Holy Spirit in relation to how Assembly of God, Pentecostal and Charismatic believers take him.  While varied, their beliefs, all tend toward focusing on pushing grace to the side and accentuating the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

Cessation

This is not a discussion on cessation.  For those who do not know what cessation is, there is much confusion regarding what it means.  It is tied to I Corinthian 13:8-10, “Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”

In its purest sense, those who believe in modern spiritual gifts are not cessationists.  Cessationists believe the apostolic gifts have ceased:  tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, and prophecy tied to knowing the future.  What is left are the gifts of grace, teaching/preaching, and exhortation. 

Acts
In college I had a wonderful Bible teacher, Dr. Mark Minnick, who managed to open God's word in a way I had never seen, and still today does that as a pastor at Mt. Calvary Baptist in Greenville, SC. To help others understand the Biblical take on Acts, I shall attempt to write out my class notes in a manageable way that conveys the logic of the findings.  Yes, after all these years I do wish I had done a better job of taking notes.  Age brings wisdom with it.

Acts 2 brings us Pentecost, an event looked at differently by many.  Here is an outline of the Pentecost experience:

1.     Of the 120

a.     Sound of a great wind

b.     Fire

c.     Tongues

                                               i.     Verse 4 - Greek glossais, or English glossolalia, tongue speaking

                                             ii.     Verse 6 - language = dialecto or dialect

                                            iii.     Verses 9-10 - lists 15 distinct regions or countries these people came from.  These dialects were at least 11 different languages.

                                            iv.     Verse 11 - tongues = glossais

                                             v.     Glossais used in verses 4 & 11

                                            vi.     Dialecto used in verses 6 & 8

                                          vii.     Tongues were known foreign languages

2.     Of the 3,000

a.     No wind, fire or tongues

Throughout Acts one finds many commonalities.  Dr. Minnick calls these a Fourfold Pattern:

1.     There were Jews present

2.     There were apostles present

3.     Tongues were a foreign language

4.     There were people saved

In every case of tongues or any spiritual gift in Acts, these four principles hold.  Now, we know God weaves truth and patterns throughout the Bible.  By showing us consistently that this fourfold pattern exists and is always accurate through Acts, we see something that should work for us today.  

We can look at the Bible and easily see why tongues have ceased, but if we stretch it to assume they may not have, their use should conform to the rules above.  Nothing in the Bible contradicts them, and with a little digging you will see that no tongues usage today has anything to do with the Bible model.  

There is a practice called The Law of First Mention in hermeneutics. This really just means it is the law of the first use. The law was built to fulfill Timothy's command to rightly divide the word of truth, and not allow people to twist scripture. I bring this up as the Fourfold Pattern above does indeed come from this practice. All of Acts follows this pattern, so to take subsequent tongues mentioned later in the Bible and try to make it fit outside of its original meaning is just twisting scripture.

One of the key arguments thrown up is based on the practice of the tongues being a ministry gift, which is what they claim Acts was, or a mark of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul tell us, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." You can comb your Bible carefully and you will find we are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but never baptized.

These verses prove that a believer has the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38-39, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."

It says everyone will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost at salvation, which is what Christ promised us. The word ‘baptize’, however, is the Greek word baptizo, and is referring to the immersion kind in water, not in the spirit. To claim otherwise is to twist scripture.  Anyone who has dealt with sprinkling should know this word and its meaning well.  As a side thought, notice who's name you are to be baptized in.  Have you ever heard a pastor do that?  Just curious...

Acts 2:4 is also often twisted, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."  As stated above these are known languages and follow the Fourfold Pattern. To claim believers today should achieve the same thing upon salvation is to take what happened at Pentecost out of context for a spurious belief. 

The Church in Corinth

Ponder this – tongues are not unique to Christianity. The fact pagans can speak in tongues and do it just as convincingly as any professing Charismatic Christian is proof that someone speaking in tongues does not necessarily mean they are getting that ability from God. Pagans do it too. It simply cannot be an indication of God’s hand on that person.

Tongues can be practiced in an ignorant, ungodly way. This is what was going on in the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth was an absolute mess through rampant abuse of the spiritual gifts. They were abusing the gifts in every imaginable way and combined with an unimaginable morality going on in that church. 

Paul was writing to correct this. Tongues can be practiced in an ungodly way.  It can be done in such a way that it brings attention to the person speaking in tongues, rather than glorifying Christ and edifying the church. That is what was going on in the church at Corinth.

I Corinthians 14:27,28, “If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.”

Paul made it clear that if speaking in tongues is done in public in corporate worship, an interpreter must always be present and he must always interpret. So if you are in a church and there is a group of people speaking in tongues all at once with no one interpreting, that is well outside of biblical parameters. That is not of God. Paul clearly states it must be done by two or at the most three, each in turn and one must always interpret. And if that is not what’s going on, then that is outside of biblical parameters, it is not of God.

As a Christian we believe the Bible.  We cannot simply erase what Paul wrote.  You may be starting to see why there is an issue with the use of tongues in churches today, not just at Corinth.  You also can see why we believe the gift has ceased anyway and is no longer in operation.

As pointed out on the note on Acts 2:4 above, it is false that all believers should or must speak in tongues. Some churches teach that if you are saved, your salvation will be evidenced by you speaking in tongues. And if you do not speak in tongues then are not saved. This belief is patently unbiblical.

I Corinthian 12:29, “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?”

Here the Apostle Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions. He says, “All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not teach, do they? All do not speak in tongues, do they? And clearly the implied answer to these rhetorical questions is no…no they do not.

We can no more say that every Christian should speak in tongues than we could say that every Christian should have the gift of teaching, or every Christian should have the gift of mercy, or every Christian should have the gift of preaching (prophecy). Every Christian does not have every spiritual gift. The Holy Spirit distributes the gifts among the body as He wills to do so (I Corinthians, pretty much the whole Chapter 12). So this is patently unbiblical.

Isaiah 28:11, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.”  This verse is typical of many OT prophecies.  It has an immediate meaning carrying judgment to those not following God, but it also has a future look of judgment.  While some may say it does not speak of tongues, Paul would disagree as he quotes from it.

I Corinthians 14:21-22, “In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.

Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.”

Remember our Fourfold Pattern from Acts?  Someone was always saved when tongues were spoken.  Preaching that brings souls to Christ does so through conviction of sin, usually helping the sinner see their soul in the light of eternal judgment for their sins.  So, tongues were a sign of judgment.  The Jews had hard hearts, and just words would not work.  They were a sign, not to those who believed, but those who did not.

Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” 

It is interesting to me that the Great Commission was command, with split fulfillment.  We all know how the apostles and disciples, and even modern missionaries travel the world to reach the lost for Christ.  However, consider the day of Pentecost.  When the apostles stood up to preach they spoke every man in the language of those present.  This was the world’s crossroad, with people from every known language regularly trading and traveling.  That day, they each hear the gospel in their own language.  Isaiah 28:11 was fulfilled, and Acts 1:8 was also. 

That day these hardened Jews heard Isaiah 28:11 fulfilled, and knew this as a sign of prophetic judgment.  They knew Isaiah and they believed it and had learned of its historical accuracy.  There was no doubt in their minds what was happening, but this preaching tied together the fact they had rejected their Messiah and crucified him.  And they knew he rose from the dead.  Over 500 accurate witnesses.  No doubt.  Now judgment.  

Many came to know Christ that day.  We cannot know what all went through their hearts as they accepted Christ, but can only glory in their decision.  They were, however, judged.  That day God’s focus of salvation shifted from the Jews to the Gentiles.  You see this throughout Acts, and how God even had to help Peter as he was quite racist or purist.  He did not want to preach to the Gentiles.  As the focus shifted to the Gentiles, you do not see tongues used.  This was a sign to the Jews, knowing it tied to prophecy and OT scripture for them. 

Today the Jews are still under judgment.  They are waiting upon God to shift his focus back to them.  Consider the gospel spread out from Jerusalem.  It left the Jews as it spread to the Gentiles.  For 2,000 years it has been circling the globe, but if you are a map watcher it is moving back to the middle east.  Where are the biggest revivals happening right now?  Not in Great Britain like they used to.  Not in America like they used to.  No, they are happening in Islamic countries.  Whole towns are leaving Allah for our saviour.  The Holy Spirit is alive and well and still reaching the lost.  No tongues, just the gospel.  I believe that as the Holy Spirit works back to Jerusalem, it is another indication the Rapture is soon.  Definitely listening for that trumpet!!!

Closing

I would challenge Christians to go back to the Bible.  We are never told "feelings" get us to heaven, but faith.  We have no evidence from the Bible that "spirit filled" services are Biblical or of God.  If you look into it hard enough, Satan has been doing what modern churches do for ages, but this has nothing to do with God.  Please examine your beliefs in the light of scripture, and let go of the feelings.  Get back to holiness and Godliness.  Remember what the source of wisdom is - the fear of the Lord.  Fear, or full respect for his holiness and our sinful position, does not make one jump up and down, but rather fall on their face repenting of their sins.  

This is not a deep dive into the subject, but I do hope it will help anyone seeking truth.  For someone wanting to dig, I would recommend “The Corinthian Catastrophe” by George E. Gardiner.  It is a small book, but powerful and very well researched and written.